


There's a lot that Rises Up

by skytramp



Series: Great Men Academy: Post Canon Rose/Good Universe [1]
Category: Great Men Academy สุภาพบุรุษสุดที่เลิฟ (TV)
Genre: Background Love/Tangmo, F/M, Family Feels, Female Friendship, Found Family, Gen, Personal Growth, Post-Canon, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-03-14 12:20:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28545492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skytramp/pseuds/skytramp
Summary: “Are you still awake?” The suddenness of Good's voice gives her a shiver.“Yes.” Rose says quietly.“Can I ask how you knew about Love before everything was public?"Rose briefly considers just telling him the truth, but no, she’ll settle for a half truth. “Just by chance.” She says. “I overheard a conversation and then I asked Love.” Something about the omission of her own experience makes her want to squirm.Love and Rose form a friendship during Rose's 3rd year at the academy, and relationships grow when Love brings Rose home for the semester break.
Relationships: Good/Rose | Sean (Great Men Academy), Love&Rose | Sean (Great Men Academy)
Series: Great Men Academy: Post Canon Rose/Good Universe [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2199024
Comments: 15
Kudos: 5





	1. Call me anytime you have a ghost

Rose decides that Sean will complete their third year at Great Men Academy. She’s not even sure why she’s made the choice, only that in that moment, when facing the idea of leaving Vier behind, it felt so much easier to think about him leaving  _ her _ behind, and not the other way around. And if she gets a level of comfort by walking through these familiar halls he so recently tread, then that’s a comfort that she can use. She’s going to get over him, she tells herself, and hopefully focusing on one more year of studies before figuring out what she has to do with the rest of her life is a way to do that. It takes only a few weeks into the new school year for Rose to realize that she has no friends. This has never been an issue for her, Sean has been relatively well liked, but where her focus has been so thoroughly tied to Vier in the past, now she’s unmoored, and none of her loose acquaintances had ever turned into friendships. That leaves her in class alone, eating lunch alone, going to her dorm room alone. 

It doesn’t take long for Rose to learn that the new dorm monitor is nowhere near as fastidious as Good had been the year before, and she starts to take walks at night. At first she just walks, until she finds herself standing on the shores of the lake, making that trip that she once had made so long before. She makes sure to keep her vials of lake water full on these trips, and sometimes spends an hour looking over the water in her original body, dwarfed by the too big school uniform. In these moments she thinks about her future. Just before school started she had turned twenty years old. The eighteen year old Rose that dropped out of University after giving twenty years of her life for a Unicorn Wish feels like a different person at this point, but she’s the one who has to live with the consequences. Without Vier’s love on the line, she’s lost, and some time soon she’s going to have to figure out what that means for her. 

Rose transforms back, straightens her uniform, and begins the trip to the dorm. As she nears the outskirts of campus, Rose catches sight of another figure, seemingly walking in lazy circles near a pathway, focused on the phone against their ear. When she gets closer she realizes the figure is Love, and the phone call ends just before Rose enters earshot. “You’re out late.” Rose remarks to Love. 

Love looks up, seemingly startled out of her own thoughts, and sees Sean. “I’m just taking a walk. And why are  _ you _ out this late?” 

Rose gives her an incredulous look. “I thought I’d do things the old fashioned way. You should remember how this works.” She offers a sarcastic smile and Love eventually nods. 

“Oh, yes. Sorry. I’ll… head back to the dorm now.” Love says, and turns to go. 

“We can go back together.” Rose finds herself saying. This conversation with Love is the most she’s spoken casually to another person in probably weeks. Love nods, and waits for Rose to catch up, before they start walking side by side towards the dorm building. 

They walk mostly in silence, and Rose can see how stiff Love seems while walking with her. “How has your second year been so far?” She ventures, hoping to put Love at ease. 

It doesn’t seem to put her at ease at all, but Love offers an answer nonetheless. “Good. Weird, having everyone know that I’m a girl now, but good with my friends.”

Rose nods. They don’t talk again until they reach the dorm gate, and there they go their separate ways. 

The next day Rose eats lunch, alone, at her normal table. This lasts for only a few minutes, as she hears the clatter of a lunch tray and the shifting weight of someone sitting across from her. She looks up to see Love smiling in her direction. “Good afternoon, Sean. Can I sit here?” Love asks. 

Rose nods, and continues eating. Love keeps up a pleasant chatter throughout the meal, and politely waves as Rose gets up to go to her afternoon classes. She finds herself smiling slightly to herself. Maybe it’s good to make friends, after all. 

Love eating lunch with her becomes the start of a routine, and soon Rose finds herself invited to football matches with Nuclear and Menn, late evening ice cream runs, and shopping trips on the weekends. Love even takes Rose on a shopping trip specifically to buy feminine clothes that fit her new body, settling on a pleated pale pink skirt and an off white blouse with puffed sleeves. Rose thinks Love looks great in them, and tells her that Tangmo will certainly be impressed and Love blushes bright red. 

Months pass in this way, and as the semester comes to a close, facing a week alone in the dorms, Love invites Rose to come home with her. Rose, having no family in the country, only hesitates briefly before agreeing, with the caveat that she can always go back to the dorms if she gets uncomfortable. 

The Saturday after classes end for the semester Rose meets Love near the edge of campus with her duffle bag full of clothes for the week slung over her shoulder. It takes less than an hour to walk the distance, but Rose finds herself grateful for Sean’s stamina as the forest is more hilly in this direction than she had realized before. They’re greeted at the door by Love’s mother, a pleasant woman with a smile so reminiscent of her daughter’s that Rose has to smile back. She offers a respectful bow. “Hello, ma’am, thank you for welcoming me into your home.” 

Love’s mom nods and beckons them both inside. “Of course! You’re Love’s friend so of course you’re welcome.” The house is roomy but cozy, with lots of wood paneling and comfortable looking furniture and tons of windows. 

After introductions, Love’s mother tells Sean to put her bag in Good’s room, since he’s not yet home from University, Sean can sleep there tonight. Love spends most of the afternoon showing Rose around the house and surrounding area, telling her about all the different places she’d seen animals. Together they help Love’s mother make dinner, and it takes an unfortunately short amount of time for both Love and her Mother to realize Rose is not at all capable in this area. “What a typical man.” Love’s mother jokes. “My son’s the same way, can’t find the inside of a wok. It’s okay, dear. You can just set the table for us, Love can show you where the plates are.” Rose laughs a little at the merits of her manliness, but takes the opportunity given to set the table. 

The dinner is pleasant, and probably the most palatable thing Rose has eaten in weeks that wasn’t takeout. Love and her mom are full conversationalists, and Rose is allowed to be mostly quiet while enjoying the talk around her. She learns that Love’s brother Good is planning on coming home tomorrow and both of them seem excited to see him. In Rose’s mind, Good was the dorm monitor, and participant in The Greatest Competition, she remembers vaguely that he was a good student, but they didn’t encounter each other often. Rose makes sure to help Love with the dishes, and afterwards Love invites her to go on a walk. 

After dark the forest is different, it feels like around every tree could be something hiding, but Love seems as at home here as anywhere. She loops her arm around Rose’s and leads her along the winding path towards the lake. The night is balmy and still nearly as warm as the day. 

“Do you want to go swimming?” Love asks. 

Rose raises an eyebrow in one of the expressions that Sean’s face does better than her own, and laughs. “You know what’ll happen if I go swimming here.” 

Love nods quickly. “Of course I know, but we’re alone, and you have to do it anyway, right?” 

Rose pulls a vial from her pocket and wiggles it back and forth in Love’s direction. “I don’t  _ have _ to do it that way.” 

Love tugs at her arm and makes a whiny noise. “Please, it’s so hot tonight and swimming in the dark is fun! I promise no one will see us.” 

“Ugh, fine.” Rose tries to sound put out by the agreement but she can’t help but be infected by Love’s enthusiasm. Love strips down to just her underwear and Rose is impressed by her progress on being confident shirtless. Rose stays in her t-shirt and underwear before wading in. The water is pleasantly cooler than the air around them and Rose follows Love’s lead into the deeper water before dunking herself below the surface. Even through closed eyes she can see the Unicorn Magic’s white/blue/purple glow as her body transforms back to its original form. Rose kicks to the surface and flips her now long hair back out of her face. Love is nearby, treading water. 

“That’s really pretty from above the water, actually. I’ve never seen your transformation this way.” Love says. 

Rose smiles back towards her. “I wish it wasn’t so bright, it would make changing in the bathroom at school a lot less conspicuous.” 

Love laughs. “I really wish I’d figured that trick out. You’re so clever to have thought of it.” 

Rose doesn’t say anything, simply leans back and spreads out until her body is floating. She lays like that for what feels like a long time, staring at the stars above, noting the subtle difference of the black tree line against the navy blue sky, a jagged line with stars above and nothing below. She hears only the vague bubbling noises underwater. Love splashes water across her face and breaks the moment. Rose reacts, sitting up to tread water and trying to splash Love back before she gets too far away. They both reach the shallows near the shore, trading half hearted splashes back and forth. Love plops down on the sparse grass near the edge of the water, the last her laughter trailing off into the night. Rose sits down next to her cross-legged, squeezing the water from her long hair.

“You’re right.” Rose says, glancing towards Love. “Swimming was fun, thank you.” 

“You’re welcome. I just thought… with this being the closest place to swim by school, you probably don’t get to go swimming very often.” 

Rose feels her face flush and realizes she’s feeling embarrassed from the sheer sincerity of Love’s statement and how thoughtful it was. “Thanks.” 

They sit in silence for a few minutes, hearing the crickets chirping in the night and the occasional far off sound of some animal touching the lake water. Love keeps glancing quickly at Rose and then away. Eventually Rose catches her and they share a second of eye contact before Rose asks. “What is it?”

“Can I ask… what’s going on with you and Vier now?” Love sounds hesitant in her questioning, and the hesitance helps Rose appreciate how much Love seems to care. 

It still hurts though, to hear his name spoken. “Nothing is going on. He went to his University, I came back to Great Men… to forget him.” She takes a deep breath, she hasn’t had to say her intentions aloud before and she’s torn on whether it feels good or not. She knows, though, that this hesitance wouldn’t show if she was Sean right now. She misses the feeling of knowing she can hide everything behind his face. “I’m just trying to move on with my life, I just… haven’t figured out how to do that yet.” 

Love nods. “Tangmo talks about him sometimes… If you ever do, you know, want to know, I can tell you.”

Rose purses her lips and moves her hair from one side to the other, squeezing it for water that has all but evaporated. “How is that, by the way? You and Tangmo?” 

Rose finds herself only half listening to Love’s love sick happiness about Tangmo, she’s still trying to school her expression, begging this face to hide everything, willing the tears clouding her eyes to retreat before they fall. She’s not even sure Love has finished talking when she glances at her watch and sees it’s already after midnight. She abruptly stands and wades back into the water until she’s submerged. Moments later she steps back ashore looking like Sean again. 

“You don’t have to, you know.” Love says as Rose squeezes her wet feet back into her shoes. Rose looks up for Love to continue. “You don’t have to be Sean, if you don’t want to. My family would keep your secret, because, you know, they’re already used to me.” 

Rose shrugs one shoulder. “It’s okay. I’m more used to this anyway, and I already changed back. Plus I only brought clothes for this body with me anyway. Come on, let's go before it gets cold.” She helps Love to her feet and once they’re all dressed they make the trek back to Love’s house. 


	2. Now I'm Wide Awake

The house is dark by the time Love and Rose return. After showering and getting ready for bed, Rose steps into Good’s bedroom where Love’s mom had left the lamp on. The room itself is tidy, well organized, and a lot less cluttered than what Rose has seen of Love’s bedroom, but that may be due to a combination of natural cleanliness and the fact that he’s living mostly in his dorm at his University at this point. She checks the closet, which is only partially full. Most of the clothes inside are old Great Men uniforms, with a few gaudy tourist vacation t-shirts and one relatively nice looking grey suit for special occasions. 

There is a single picture in a frame on his bedside table, and Rose sits on the edge of the bed and picks it up to take a closer look. The photo depicts two small kids, a young girl in an orange frilly bathing suit with lime green shorts, and a slightly older boy with glasses half obscured by a dark green bucket hat with dangling strings in a tank top and shorts. The kids must be a young Love and Good, which makes the identities of the adults in the photo easy to grasp. Love and Good’s mother looks much the same, smiling brightly. The man in the photo is handsome and seems happy, and must be Love and Good’s father. They’re posed on a boardwalk of some kind, bright sun shining down on them, with a ferris wheel in the background. Rose smiles at the image. 

A smaller picture is tucked, facing backwards, into the corner of the frame, and Rose gently tugs it out to see what it is. It’s a picture of Good in his 3rd year Great Men uniform with his arm around a girl with dark hair. She’s leaning into his shoulder and they’re both smiling. Rose doesn’t recognize the girl, but by the way Good is smiling, more than Rose ever remembers having seen him smile in her experience, she must be his girlfriend. Rose carefully puts the small picture back in place, and the frame back on the bedside table. She flips out the light and falls asleep quickly.

Rose doesn’t have a chance to enjoy what would be a beautiful morning, as she’s woken up by the sudden jolt of a duffel bag hitting her in the chest. She lets out a startled yell and, upon opening her eyes, sees Good, dressed like the university student he is, who yelps in response. Rose sits up quickly and shoves the bag to the end of the bed. She’s a little self conscious of the tank top and shorts she’d worn to bed in comparison to the fact that Good has not even loosened his tie, but to be fair, she was asleep just seconds ago. 

Good is the first to find his voice. “What are you doing here?” 

Rose shrugs a little and stretches her shoulders. “Love didn’t tell you I was coming?” 

Good shakes his head. “You two are… friends?” 

Rose isn’t really sure how to answer that. “I suppose. She invited me here.” 

Good nods slightly, seemingly accepting her answer as the truth. “Why are you in my bed, though?” 

Rose stands and stretches again. No matter how long she spends as Sean, she’s always a little surprised when she’s taller than someone, and the few centimeters she’s got over Good is no exception. “Your mom insisted. It was inappropriate for me to stay in Love’s room.” 

Good takes a small step back, seems lost in thought for a second, and then nods. “That makes sense. I’ll excuse myself so you can get dressed.” He turns and leaves without another word. 

Rose doesn’t take long to grab her bag, her towel, and the clothes she’s going to wear, and then heads to the bathroom to get ready. By the time she’s completed her shower and dressed, she can hear Love in the living room talking to her brother. Love is still in her pajamas and holding a towel for her shower. She’s talking quickly, seemingly peppering Good with questions about his new friends, going to parties, and joining faculty activities. Good, Rose can see as she approaches, is trying very hard to avoid rolling his eyes when he replies that he’s focused on his classes, and besides, students in the Faculty of Sciences don’t party. Rose is pretty sure he’s wrong about that, but it’s debatable whether or not he’s aware of it. 

Love notices Rose’s approach and greets her with a smile before walking towards the shower. “Oh,” Love says, turning back before she steps into the hallway, “mom had to go into town early so we’ll have to make our own breakfast.” 

Rose takes a seat on an unoccupied chair across from Good and nods. “Okay.” 

Love throws her a thumbs up and turns to head for the shower. As soon as the bathroom door closes, as if on cue, Good stands. “Please excuse me, I’m going to go unpack.” He, once again, leaves the room before she can respond.

Good and Love return to the living room about the same time. Love is wearing the skirt and blouse she and Rose had bought together a month or so back, and drying her hair with a towel. “Breakfast time!” She announces to the room, and the three of them head for the kitchen. 

Rose quickly discovers that their mother wasn’t lying when she compared Rose’s cooking skills to her son’s. Between the three of them, Good and Rose’s disasters and Love’s attempts at salvaging them, they eventually make it to the table with some decent rice and three incredibly lumpy, strange looking omelets. Miraculously they are still edible, and Love only complains, gently, a few times.

Love and Rose invite Good to go with them to get ice cream in town that afternoon. Rose is surprised to hear him readily agree, only to very suddenly say he has to study once Love lets it slip that her friends You and Me will also be there. Rose is confused by the turn of events, but lets it go until Love has time to explain it. When they leave the house together shortly after noon the sun is bright overhead, but the weather still feels decent under the shade of the trees.

As they travel down the hill, Love starts a conversation. “Do you want to be Sean right now? Since you don’t know them I think you should have an option.” 

Rose looks over at her quickly and then back towards the trail. “I’m fine how I am.” She says. “If I’m Sean then I’m your school mate, otherwise we’ll have to come up with some story about how you know me.” 

Love nods, and they continue walking in silence. They meet You and Me at the start of the trail. Rose is surprised they are twins, though the names could have been a hint, and she’s equally surprised to see that one of these girls, and she has no way of determining who, is the girl from the hidden photo in Good’s bedroom. Love introduces her friends, and Rose mentally catalogues them: You, the one who is blushing a bit too hard when she makes eye contact, and is wearing a purple sweater, Me, the one who looks ready to make fun of her sister at a moment’s notice, and is wearing the blue overalls. Rose bows politely back to them as Love introduces her as Sean, a third year at her school and new friend. She smiles a bit towards Love in that moment, but tempers her expression quickly to the icy distance she’s used to around people she doesn’t know. 

It’s not a far walk to the ice cream shop in town, and between the weekend and the school holiday, the place is much busier than usual. They barely manage to snag a table with enough seats for all of them, as they sit down with their ice cream. Love, Me, and You talk excitedly about many things Rose doesn’t have context for, but she politely smiles and nods along at what feel like important intervals. They talk a lot about Love’s old school, where it seems You and Me still attend, and every once in a while one of the three of them offers a polite question to Rose. She answers how her school year has gone so far (uneventful), and how she is liking her classes (they’re okay), before Love salvages the conversation by telling the story of Nuclear’s failed mentorship, where he decided the best way to mentor his first year was by making him sing every conversation they had together, which lasted about three days before the first year gave up and found a new mentor. 

The group finish their ice cream and, after wandering through some stores, part ways in the late afternoon.

“Did you have fun?” Love asks as they walk back towards her house.

“Your friends are nice.” Rose says, and nods. “What was it that happened with one of them and your brother?” 

Love laughs a little and scratches at the side of her neck. “He’s not very good at hiding it, is he?” Rose shakes her head before Love continues. “Me asked him out just before The Greatest competition last school year, they dated for a few months before realizing they were better as friends… which seems like it backfired because now Good is afraid to be within a kilometer of her.” Love laughs a little sadly at the story. 

Dinner with the whole family is pleasant and once again Rose finds herself grateful to be surrounded by people who carry a conversation. She’s so rarely had family experiences like this. Rose doesn’t have siblings, despite what most people think, and both of her parents have worked full time overseas since she was a child. She finds herself smiling and laughing along to their stories, even helping Good by backing up a joke about Love’s lack of studying skills. The atmosphere lingers through the meal and into clean up. 

“Oh, mom.” Good says, as he helps rinse the dishes. “Where should Sean sleep tonight?” 

“I’m fine with the couch.” Rose quickly interjects. 

Their mother pats Rose on the shoulder. “Sean, would you be okay to share with Good? Sorry we don’t have more rooms, but it would still be more comfortable than the sofa.” 

Rose doesn’t have an immediate reaction, but Love’s frantic attempts to catch her eye contact succeed and Love looks panicked. Rose shakes her head slightly to dismiss her worry. “As long as Good is okay with it, I wouldn’t mind sharing. Thank you.” 

They all look to Good, who nods, his expression either neutral or simply unreadable. Once bedtime nears for the household, Good helps by relocating Rose’s bag back to his room. Rose herself showers, and completes her required transformation task, only to be grabbed by Love and pulled down the hall the moment she emerges from the bathroom. “Are you really okay sharing with Good?” Love says in what amounts to a stage whisper. 

Rose nods. “I’ll be fine. It’s just sleeping.” She pats Love on the shoulder in a half hearted attempt to lessen the panicked expression on her face. “I’m going now. Get some rest and I’ll see you in the morning.” 

Despite her calm reassurances to Love, Rose is perhaps a little nervous. She’s rarely shared a bed with anyone, and not since childhood sleepovers with girl schoolmates. She’ll be fine, she tells herself, and she trusts that any discomfort is hidden quietly behind the neutral indifference of Sean’s face. She finds Good already in bed with his eyes closed. His glasses rest neatly next to the picture frame on his bedside table. She’s grateful that they don’t have to talk, in this moment, and flips the lamp off before circling around the other side of the bed and climbing into her space. Her breathing calms by the sounds of distant crickets. She falls asleep quickly. 


	3. In my Room Where We Got Close

Rose wakes up to the sound of rain against the windows and dripping distantly from the trees. Good is still asleep, and when she glances to her right she can see him lying on his stomach, with his mouth half open against his pillow. His arm is slightly stretched onto Rose’s side of the bed in such a way that it’s pressed against Rose’s bicep. She moves, carefully, off her side of the bed and gathers her clothes to change without rousing him. 

The weather keeps them all inside throughout the day, and Rose and Love spend some time helping Love’s mother clean the house. Good keeps his nose thoroughly buried in a series of books that may or may not be school related, but each time she notices him he’s in a new spot in the house, with a new book in his hands. Rose finds herself watching the rain in the inaptly named sunroom with Love in the afternoon. Half the roof and almost all of the walls are windows, and the rain creates streaky views of wet trees and ever increasing puddles through the yard. Rose watches Love water the few house plants around the room and settle cross legged into a chair to flip through a magazine. Rose has a book that she found on a shelf in the living room that she’s ignoring in favor of staring blankly outside. 

This would be a school day if it wasn’t their break week, and the thought has Rose contemplating the fact that this time next week she will begin her final semester. Only five months and she’ll be done, then she’ll have to figure out what this second chance at adulthood looks like. Soon she’ll have to decide if she wants to retake the entrance exam for university, but of course unless she goes public with Principal Venus she won’t be able to list Great Men on her forms, she’ll simply be the dropout who spent 3 years doing nothing before trying to come back.

She remembers when she walked onto her university campus the first time, how she’d spent a painstaking hour setting her hair into just the right curl, how the excitement had welled in her chest and how she had to smooth down her uniform skirt every time she stood up. She imagines it now, but finds herself imagining Sean in the white uniform shirt, straight black tie, striding confidently across campus. It sounds easy, to just continue things the way they have been, to never face her own face in the mirror, to keep up the ruse until…  _ until when? _ She thinks. She knows that when Sean graduates, he also has to disappear, it’s the only way that she can move past all this. She doesn’t know when hiding behind him became second nature for her, doesn’t know when she became afraid of her own identity. He’s a part of her, just her with a different face, but why is she so afraid to give him up? 

The idea of being Rose, just normal Rose, with her hair painstakingly curled, trying to go to classes, to date people, to make friends without any separation… is hard to think about. She tugs up the hood of the sweatshirt she’s wearing and tucks her legs underneath herself on the chair and tries to read, if only to get herself out of her own head. 

Late that night Good and Rose get into bed at the same time. Despite spending the day lounging she feels the exhaustion creeping through her muscles and is eager to rest. Good asks permission to turn off the light and Rose agrees as they both settle themselves under the blanket. The rain hasn’t stopped and the dripping patter on the glass echoes through the room with a reassuring steadiness. Even with her exhaustion, Rose doesn’t close her eyes. She can feel Good shifting slightly, trying to get comfortable. She wonders if she’ll be able to tell when he falls asleep. 

Good speaks before she has time to wonder much longer if he’s asleep. “Sean… are you still awake?” His voice is quiet, just above a whisper, and the suddenness of it gives Rose a shiver.

“Yes.” Rose says quietly.

“Can I ask how you knew about Love before everything was public? I’ve been… wondering ever since last year’s competition…” He does sound curious, if not even slightly apologetic, like something in him is afraid to ask the question. 

Rose briefly considers just telling him the truth, that she knew the signs to look for and overheard a conversation, but no, she’ll settle for a half truth. “Just by chance.” She says. “I overheard a conversation and then I asked Love about it. She told me.” Something about the omission of her own experience makes her want to squirm. “What about you? How did you find out? Did she tell you?” 

She’s close enough to hear the way that Good takes a deep breath in preparation of his answer. “She helped me… with the obstacle course at bootcamp. We were paired together. We became sort of friends after that, and she asked to go home with me because she was homesick.” In the dark room Rose can barely see, but she rolls to her side to watch Good talk. She can only see his outline, the neckline of his white-shirt, the occasional flash of his teeth. “Once she was here at home things were strange, I got suspicious of how she knew things about the house, and that’s how I figured it out. When I confronted her she told me everything.” 

Rose nods, though she’s sure he can’t see it, he may feel the motion. 

“I changed my wish after that.” Good continues, and Rose thinks this might be the longest she’s heard him speak in succession. “I promised to help her get her body back, if that’s what she wanted. And… well you know what happened after that. You were there.” 

Rose can feel the knot in her gut when she imagines herself in Love’s place. Getting stuck in one body must have been terrible for her, but having people to support her like that? That sounds really great. “Mm… yeah, I was there.” She hears more emotion in her voice than she expected, and swallows thickly. “Thank you for being so supportive of her, Good.” 

At this Good rolls on his side to face her. He’s even harder to see now, but she can just barely track the motion. He doesn’t speak but she thinks she can feel him staring. 

“I’m serious.” Rose continues. “I’m sure she really relied on you.” 

They share a moment of silence before Good rolls back onto his back. He clears his throat quietly. “Uh, yeah… Well, I’m going to sleep now. Good night.” 

Rose rolls back onto her own back and finds herself smiling. She wonders what that sudden ending to the conversation meant, was Good embarrassed at her sincerity? She smiles until the sounds of the rain eventually lull her to sleep.

This time when Rose wakes up, it’s her who has moved. She’s laying on her side with her head pressed against Good’s shoulder and her arm over his chest. It still sounds like it’s raining outside, but there’s sunlight streaming through the windows. Rose pulls back slightly and tucks her wayward arm to her chest, resting her head on her own pillow, rather than Good. Her movement doesn’t seem to wake him, and she watches his chest rising and falling beneath the half skewed blanket. She can see him now, much clearer than the night before, and has to admit that without his face hidden by glasses or his perpetual stern expression, he might be sort of handsome. She’s not sure how long she watches him sleep, but the moment he begins to stir she quickly closes her eyes and feigns sleep. She holds her sleeping position until she feels him leave the bed, and then, eventually, hears him leave the room. 

Once they’re all up and dressed, a quick breakfast is served, and the morning sun falls behind a ceiling of clouds. The rain continues, gaining strength as the day passes. Before they all can settle down for another day of indoor activities, Love and Good’s mother gets a call that she must go to work early, and her morning is spent packing for the trip. 

Rose watches as Love and Good hug their mother goodbye as she leaves just after lunch, and she offers her own friendly wave at the departure. When her mother is gone, Love comes to the living room and makes an announcement. 

“I have an idea.” She says.

Rose and Good both look up wordlessly from their separate chairs. 

Love continues despite the non-reaction. “Well, you didn’t ask, but the idea is a secret. Stay where you are.” 

Rose and Good look back down to their books. Love huffs a frustrated sigh and Rose glances over to find that Good is also looking in her direction and they share a knowing smile. Love returns after a minute, having slipped into Good’s room without them noticing, with arms full of what seems to be everything from Good’s closet and plops them all down on the unoccupied sofa. Good squints in his sister’s direction, before slowly looking back to his book. Love is still moving, having only briefly stopped to drop the first set of clothing, she moves to her mother’s room and comes back shortly with a larger pile of clothing, this time presumably belonging to her mother. 

“What are you doing, Love?” Good finally asks.

Love doesn’t stop her motion, simply drops the clothes, stands up straight and replies. “Fashion show.” 

“What?” Good and Rose say in unison.

“Fashion show.” Love turns and marches her way to her own bedroom. She returns with a mix of what looks like recent purchases and a number of pieces that would have been for her old body. This time, once the clothes have been added to the pile, she turns to address the room and claps twice. “Ahem, please join me for the first annual ‘It’s Too Rainy To Leave the House’ fashion show! Models, choose your outfits!” 

Rose, who has been watching most of this with a bemused expression, looks towards Good whose eyes widen before he attempts to go back to his book. Love crosses the room quicker than Rose would have thought possible and snatches the book from his hands. Good moves immediately, trying to get it back but Love bounces away, holding the book high above her head and running a good distance before Good can get to his feet. Love seems to realize that holding the book out of his reach will be impossible, and changes her tactic to hiding. She runs behind the chair where Rose sits and ducks until Good approaches. Rose, herself, ducks to avoid the flailing of arms, as both Good and Love dance around the chair, reaching and dodging. Even cowering, Rose feels the motion and the hard lump where Love, in a last ditch effort, shoves the book down the back of the chair between Rose and the cushion. Before she can even react to grab it herself, Good jumps forward to reach over her shoulder and falls half on top of her. Good’s neck is pressed to the side of her face where he falls, but he seems to get a hand on the book and quickly scrambles to his feet. Rose is a little worried her mask is slipping as she feels the heat rising in her cheeks from the sudden contact. 

Good seems determined to continue his book, and after retrieving it returns to his chair and immediately starts reading.

“ _ Good _ , please! It’ll be fun!” Love whines, and she comes out from behind the chair to stand back near the couch. Good does not react. “Sean, please tell Good he has to do the fashion show with us!” 

Rose laughs. “With us? Did I agree to this?” 

Good’s clearly listening, because he smiles a little at that. 

“ _ Seaaaan. _ Please! It’ll be fun! We’ll all dress up in funny outfits. I  _ can’t _ do another day of reading and staring at the rain, please. Please, please, please!” 

Rose rolls her eyes and stands up with a sigh. She crosses the room towards the pile of clothes. She sees a red polka dotted scarf that could Love’s or her mother’s and wraps it deftly around her shoulders. She looks to Good. “Please join us, Good.” 

He looks up and the hint of a smile grows larger at what must be the image of Sean in his grey t-shirt and basketball shorts with a delicate scarf around his neck. He sighs. “Fine.” 

Love cheers. 

It’s agreed, by Rose and Love, that Good should be the first to go. He tries to grab his own clothes, and his idea is quickly stopped by his sister. Love pulls a grey and black dress, knee length and collared, from the stack that is barely still distinguishable as their mother’s clothes, and hands it to him. Good sighs again but takes the dress and heads off to change. Rose and Love stand side by side awaiting his triumphant reveal. 

When Good steps out he’s red from neck to forehead. Love laughs, but Rose stops herself. The dress, which perhaps is knee length on their mother, hits Good nearly at mid thigh, and Love drags him to the floor length mirror affixed to the bathroom door for him to see himself. Rose follows. Love half forces him to do a spin in front of the mirror, and he stumbles gracelessly over his own feet in the process. Love keeps her hands on his shoulder and leans over to make eye contact with him through the mirror. “Look how pretty you are, Good!” He rubs the side of his neck and tries to look away. 

Rose steps just a half step closer and slowly removes his glasses with a smile. 

“How do you expect me to see myself if you take my glasses away?” Good asks.

“This is just for us.” Rose says, and steps out of the way for Love and her to make their final appraisal. She grabs Good’s hand and gently presses his glasses into his palm. 

“Can I be done now?” Good asks as he puts his glasses back on. 

Love nods. “Sean’s turn! But you can’t change back yet, Good. Go sit in your chair!” He rolls his eyes, but listens, as Rose heads for the clothes pile. 

It’s fun to dig through the clothes pile, considering what combinations might be the most fun to wear. Love offers encouraging advice, and Rose can’t help but occasionally glancing in Good’s direction to watch him trying to find a comfortable way to sit in a short dress. Eventually she settles on an outfit and goes to Love’s room to change. 

The outfit, which is simply Love’s old girl school uniform, might not have been the best choice, but Rose couldn’t resist. The process of sliding on and fastening a girl’s uniform skirt is both jarring and familiar, as she manages to close the button, but the shapes feel all wrong from her own memory. She realizes this is the first time she’s ever put feminine clothing on this body. The uniform shirt is offwhite with short puffed sleeves and Rose has to open the buttons on the sleeves for them to fit around her arms. The shirt itself is a little tight because Love’s old body was so small, but Rose finds if she stands up straight and doesn’t move too much, the buttons don’t stretch too badly. She's grateful for her currently flat chest, or this shirt wouldn’t fit at all. 

When she steps into the living room Love and Good are similarly placed to how her and Love had been when Good emerged, and Love offers enthusiastic applause. “So pretty, Mr. Sean” She says, offering a bit too much emphasis on the ‘Mr.’. Rose offers a cute peace sign next to her cheek in response and both Good and Love smile at that. 

They all go to the mirror. Rose is a little shocked by the figure that she makes in this uniform, but she spends more time studying Love and Good’s expressions. Love is smiling in her normal way, never a hidden agenda. Good’s expression is more neutral, but his ears are a little red, perhaps the aftermath of their previous teasing, or maybe seeing himself in the mirror a second time. Rose smiles and does a little spin for the mirror. “Your turn now, Love.” She says and Love nods. 

Rose and Good wait in the living room while Love chooses her outfit and scurries away to her bedroom to change. Rose can’t help but glance between her own skirt and Good’s dress as they stand waiting for Love’s return. What a pair they must make. 

Love emerges with a twirl in a long patterned skirt with the white button up shirt from Good’s suit tucked in and the matching grey suit jacket around her shoulders. The shirt and jacket are only slightly too big, and the skirt billows around her legs. Rose finds herself applauding and even Good joins. 

They all head to the mirror and Love puts herself between Sean and Good before pulling her phone from the jacket pocket. “Here, take a picture.” She hands the phone to Sean and stands up on her tiptoes to put an arm around both Good and Sean’s shoulders. Rose holds the phone to get them all in the mirror’s image and they smile for the camera. 

The sound of the shutter click is obscured by a loud boom of thunder, and the house loses power. 


	4. Cold but not that Deep

The glow from Love’s phone screen combined with the late afternoon overcast light coming through the living room windows is just enough for them all to see by, as they stand in front of the bathroom door. Love seems startled by the sudden loss of power, and tightens her hold on Rose’s shoulder. The thunder booms again and this time the distant flash of lightning can be seen throughout the house and the sound of the rain grows louder around them. Good takes a step away, still holding on to Love’s arm, and speaks. “I’ll find some candles.” He leaves them together as he heads in the direction of the kitchen. Love and Rose go together into the living room, where the large windows make things much easier to see. 

It only takes a few minutes for Good to return with two lit candles that he sets on the coffee table, followed by a book of matches. Rose and Good sit back in their previous chairs, while Love plants herself squarely on top of the pile of clothes. 

“So what do we do now?” She asks. 

“We wait for the power to come back.” Good answers. 

And that’s what they do. As the sun is setting Love takes one of the candles and raids the kitchen for something that can be a meal without trying to cook it. They eat their meal of mostly snack foods around the coffee table in the living room, still in their fashion show outfits, unconcerned with leaving crumbs. The thunderstorm continues, and they pass the time counting the seconds between thunder and lightning. Eventually Love curls up in her pile of clothes and falls asleep. 

Rose’s eyes get tired from trying to read by candlelight, and eventually she puts her book down, content to sit cross legged with the skirt wrapped around her knees and listen to the rain. 

“Hey Good,” she says after a while, careful to be quiet so as not to wake Love, “who’s the girl in the picture in your room?” She looks over to him, curious about what he might think about her line of questioning. 

His eyebrows raise, but with the glare of the candlelight on his glasses his eyes are impossible to read. “I think you met her the other day, didn’t you? Love’s friend Me. She’s my… ex girlfriend.” He looks away and wrings his hands in what is probably nervousness. “Why do you ask?” 

If Rose is honest, she doesn’t understand why she’s so curious to hear his story, especially since she’s already heard the gist from Love. She decides to be honest. “I don’t know, no reason, I guess. I was just curious why the photo was turned backwards when I saw it. Sorry for being nosy.” Good waves his hand dismissively to excuse Rose’s behavior. “I’m surprised you found time to date, with all the focus you put on your school work.” 

Rose hears Good’s sharp intake of breath that sounds like half a laugh. “She asked me out.” He explains, and he is smiling, if sadly, at the recollection. “I had liked her for… a long time, so there was no way that I could say no.” 

They lapse into silence again, but it feels comfortable, and Rose sinks back into her chair and tucks her legs beneath her. Good seems to still be thinking, perhaps about Me, but Rose can’t blame him for that. “If I can ask,” she begins, “why did you break up?” 

Good nods, and Rose can see it from the corner of her eye. “It felt like a bunch of little things.” He says, “She was… my first girlfriend.” She’s not surprised, but there’s something endearing about how shy he sounds at the admission. “I probably was a bad boyfriend, but she never said that… With starting University and everything, there was just too much going on for me to focus on her.” He takes a deep breath and she can see how it feels to him to talk this much about something so private, she can feel his nervous energy from across the room. “We decided to be friends.” 

Rose looks at him now, but he is staring towards one of the windows. “Is avoiding being around her what you call friendship?” She tries to smile through the question, to make it sound teasing, but she’s afraid there’s too much of an edge to it. “I noticed how you avoided going out with us the other day.” 

Good doesn’t seem offended, but he is embarrassed, and he rubs the back of his neck in response. “We were never really friends before… She was always Love’s friend, always around.” He pauses. “And I was afraid to talk to her for a long time.” Rose is surprised to see Good turn towards her now. “I know you’re younger than me, but do you have any advice?”

Rose laughs quietly. “I… have only really dated one person, and it was a long time ago.” She says. She might possibly be the worst person in the world to ask for advice on how to get over your ex enough to be friends with them. “Believe me, I’m not good at this.” 

Good seems surprised at her response. “How can that be?” He asks. “None of the girls who asked you out were pretty enough?” 

Rose doesn’t really know how to answer that. Somehow in more than two years of having this persona she’s never had anyone ask too deeply about his personal life. She knows, personally, why any girls brave enough to approach her were turned down, but it feels wrong to tell Good the truth. For some reason she’s finding it hard in this moment to separate her own history from the fiction of Sean. 

Good must interpret something from her silence, because he speaks again before she can answer. “Or… is it boys?” He sounds hesitant, not like he’s disgusted but like he’s afraid to offend. 

Rose shakes her head. “It’s not… like that. I just have to focus on my studies.” This is a lie, and Rose finds herself feeling strangely bad about having to tell it, but she’s not prepared for any smarter or more honest response. “I’ve got time for romance later.” 

Good nods at that response. “Right.” 

Love makes an uncomfortable noise and attempts to adjust her sleeping perch upon the clothes, and both Good and Rose look at her. 

Good turns back towards Rose. “Can you help me get her into bed?” 

Rose nods. She grabs one of the candles from the coffee table and quickly crosses the room to put the candle in Love’s room, making sure to leave the door open. When she comes back to the living room Good is attempting to scoop Love into his arms, and it takes a few attempts of lifting the deadweight of her body, and Rose offers her help by pulling Love up by the shoulder. They’re able to get Love fully into Good’s arms, and Rose helps him with getting her into bed. She’s still in her mother’s skirt and half of Good’s suit, and Good pulls the jacket from her shoulders before settling her against her pillow. Rose grabs the candle from Love’s room, they leave, and quietly close the door behind them. 

Good turns to her. “We should probably sleep, too. I’m going to brush my teeth, I don’t know if I’m up for a cold shower though. We’ll just have to hope the power is back on in the morning. Do you want to take a candle to the bedroom and I’ll take this one?” 

Rose nods and hands him the candle. She checks her watch to confirm the time and sees she still has forty minutes until midnight. They part ways and Rose grabs the candle in the living room. She takes the candle with her to Good’s room and changes into pajamas while he’s getting ready for bed. When Good returns he’s no longer in his mother’s dress, and Rose realizes she misses the look, she wonders at what point she got used to seeing him in it. 

“You can go to sleep.” She says as she leaves the room, “I’ll take a candle with me, you can put this one out when you’re ready.” 

She knows she’ll be in the bathroom for a while, waiting for midnight to complete her transformation, and she’s glad to see the bedroom candle extinguished and Good curled up in bed by the time she returns. She puts out her own candle, sets it down on Good’s desk, and crawls into her side of the bed. She spends a long time thinking before sleep finds her.

Both Good and Rose wake up at about the same time, and while it’s still raining, the sky is brighter. The power is back on, and the smell of something cooking lures them both out of bed. By the time they reach the kitchen Love, seemingly showered and dressed for the day, is just finishing up breakfast and she serves it at the dining table. The three of them eat in companionable silence, and Rose thanks Love for the meal. 

They spend what’s left of the morning cleaning up their mess from last night’s snack dinner and fashion show until Love gets a call. She steps out the front door and takes the call on the porch, and Rose raises an eyebrow in Good’s direction. “Tangmo?” She asks, and Good shrugs. Love returns a few minutes later and the smile on her face answers Rose’s question for her. 

“Tangmo’s coming.” Love says by way of explanation. “Tomorrow afternoon and then staying for the weekend. He’ll probably have plans with friends and I wouldn’t want to leave you alone, Sean, but I’m going to try and make some plans with him.” 

Good stands up and turns to leave the room, but stops before he walks too far. “He can’t spend the night here until mom says it's okay.”

Love sticks her tongue out at him, and he turns to walk away before she responds. “He’s staying with a friend in town, anyway!” She calls to his back and Rose giggles at the whole scenario. With Good gone, Love stops trying to hide her excitement and hugs Rose’s arm. “He told me he’s really coming just to visit me but some of his other friends wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

Rose smiles fondly at her enthusiasm and pats her on the shoulder. “You don’t have to worry about me, I’ll be fine if you go to hang out with him, I won’t be offended.” 

Love smiles sheepishly. “I don’t want to just leave you here with Good though, how boring.” 

Rose shrugs. “He’s not that boring, and I’m sure I’ll find ways to occupy myself. It’s a school break anyway, time to get rest.”

Love spends the rest of the afternoon desperately failing to hide her excitement about Tangmo’s arrival. Every time Rose looks at her she’s flipping aimlessly through magazines or cleaning the same spot on the dining table for far too long. All in all, the rainy afternoon passes uneventfully. 

After a simple dinner made by Love with Good and Rose’s inexpert attempts at help, they settle into their quiet evening routine. Love gets ready for bed first, leaving Good and Rose to negotiate their shower times. Rose has been basing hers on how close to midnight it is, so that she can keep her transformations private. Tonight she finds herself with the last slot, and when she enters the bathroom with her toiletries and goes to grab her lake water vial she discovers her mistake. 

There are no more full vials. Between the change in scenery and three days straight of rain keeping them locked in the house, Rose has lost track of her water supply and so here she is, half an hour until midnight and twenty minutes from the lake, with no way to complete her transformation. The panic sets in quickly and she shoves it down as much as she can. She’s already in her pajama t-shirt and shorts, but her rain jacket is in Good’s bedroom. She slides her feet into a pair of sandals at the front door and steps out into the rainy night. 

The rain isn’t freezing but it’s much colder than her recent shower, and she feels the chill on her skin as she walks through the mud and into the trees. She’s lucky that she has made this trip with Love a few times now, and despite the darkness, she’s confident she can find her way. She slips more than once in the mud as she clambers down the hill to the lakeshore. She brought her vials with her, and after each slip checks her pockets to be sure nothing is broken. There is no shine of the moon off the lake, and the rain never lets up during her entire trip, but when the trees open up and she sees the expanse of water, she can’t help but breathe a brief sigh of relief. 

She slides her sandals off and steps into the mud at the edge of the lake as she hears a voice from the tree line behind her. 

She looks back and sees a figure in the trees. “Sean? What are you doing out here?” He steps forward from the cover of the darkness and Rose sees Good, a thin jacket covering his pajama t-shirt and shorts. 

Rose opens her mouth to speak, to answer with anything probable, but she can’t think of anything. She glances at her watch and sees she’s very nearly out of time. She looks back to him, hazy through the drizzling rain, his expression impossible to read, and answers the only way she knows how. 

“Sorry.” 

She walks into the lake until she is submerged. 


	5. From the Bottom of the Lake

As Rose steps into the water she hears Good's footsteps following, squishing through the mud towards the shore. She keeps moving until she's deep enough and drops below the surface. She notes that the water is the same chilled temperature as the rain as she's fully enveloped. Through her closed eyes she can see the white-purple-blue glow that she knows is visible from the surface where Good is probably standing. She kicks to the surface and shoves her now long hair back out of her face before turning quickly towards the shore. 

Good is still there, standing by the shore. He's closer than before, and she can clearly see how his jaw has dropped as he stares unblinking in her direction. She makes her way swimming and then walking towards him. 

"I'm sorry, I…" She begins, but the sound of her own voice makes her falter. Something seems to break Good from his stunned state as well and his mouth snaps shut as he takes a few steps backwards away from her. 

He doesn't say a word when he turns to go, quickly, in the direction of his house. She watches as he fades into the rain and then the trees. 

Before fully leaving the water Rose is sure to fill her vials before stepping back into her now too big sandals with her muddy feet. She considers finding somewhere else to go, finding some way to get into her dorm back at school without her key, anywhere else, but the options are slim, and she finds herself eventually walking slowly back up the hill towards Love and Good's house. 

By the time Rose arrives the house is fully lit and Love stands by the open front door holding a towel. She can only read Love's expression as open sympathy for the soaking wet and muddy Rose as she wraps the towel around her shoulders and ushers her into the house. She leaves muddy footprints all the way to the sofa where Love sits her down. 

"Sit here a moment, I'll get another towel for your hair." Love scurries away towards the linen closet. 

The moment Love is out of sight Rose hears the slight squeak of Good's bedroom door. He's in different, dry, clothes but his hair is still wet and he looks right back at her. She doesn't know this expression on his face, and even as he approaches her she has no idea what will happen next. He sits next to her. 

"I'm sorry, Sean--" he stops, realizing perhaps that with her current body, that name might be wrong. 

"Rose." Her voice cracks as she replies. "My name is Rose."

He gives a quick matter of fact nod, as if absorbing an answer to a test question. "Rose, then," he continues, "I'm sorry, for running away like that… and leaving you out there alone in the dark. I don't have any excuse except that I was shocked." What Rose sees in his expression now seems like genuine regret, and something about the sadness in his eyes has Rose half tempted to comfort _him_ in this moment. "Are you," he starts, "are you like Love then? Is this the… real you?" 

She nods and looks away from him. She can see him nod in return from the corner of her eye as as shiver overtakes her and she tightens the towel around her. 

"Oh!" Good says suddenly. "You should get warmed up and then get dry, let me… I'll grab your bag for you." He begins to immediately stand but Rose grabs his arm to stop him. 

"No need," she says, shaking her head as he returns to his seat, "nothing in that bag really fits me now, I'll borrow something from Love." This time it's her that stands, pushing gently off where her hand is still on Good's arm. He doesn't move as she heads towards Love's room. Before she gets there she finds Love, half crouched and hiding at the edge of the hallway with a towel in her arms. She shrugs and makes a half guilty face as she follows Rose into her bedroom. 

Once the door is closed behind them Love turns to Rose. "Are you okay?! I only heard half of that conversation, what did Good say to you?" Before waiting for an answer she turns to her dresser drawers and begins pulling out clothes that should fit Rose. 

"He apologized." Rose says simply, and Love stops rummaging and turns back to face her. She puts what clothes she's grabbed on the bed and urges Rose to sit down beside her there. 

"What happened? Why'd you leave the house?" Love asks. She grabs Rose by the hand and holds it tight. 

"I ran out of water." She admits and she hates how she can hear her voice shake. "I was stupid. I should have realized. I guess he followed me." She takes a shaky breath and feels the tears welling at the edges of her eyes. "He saw me transform." She exhales. "And then he left." the tears fall now, and she can feel the heated embarrassment in her cheeks. Love doesn't say anything, simply squeezes Rose's hand between both of hers and alternates between looking at Rose's face and staring into the middle distance. "Did Good say anything when he got home?" Rose asks. 

Love shakes her head. "He came in loud enough that it woke me up but I only saw him for a second before he shut himself in his room. I saw you coming up the path and grabbed a towel. So wait, he _apologized_?" 

Rose nods while using her free hand to unsuccessfully dry her hair with her already wet towel. She gives up and wipes her face instead. "He said he was sorry for leaving me out there. I don't understand why he's not more mad that I never told him the truth…"

Love squeezes her hand again and nods. Rose has been so used to being taller than Love that it's a little unnerving that even while seated Love is taller than her now. "He was never mad at me either," Love says, "I don't think you should worry about that. He's probably just over thinking the last few days where he treated you like a guy. Here," She says, standing and grabbing the clothes from the bed, "take these clothes and take a shower. I don't want you to get sick. Once you're ready you can come back here and stay in my room, I'll leave the light on for you."

Good has left the living room, she notices as she passes, and she goes to take a shower. It's the first time in a long time that she's washing _this_ body and it's disconcerting how unfamiliar she finds it all is. She puts on the pajamas that Love provided which must be some of her old ones, which fit Rose much better than her Sean clothes would have. When she returns to the bedroom Love is sitting cross legged on the bed. "Do you want to talk or just sleep?" She asks. 

"I think I want to sleep." Rose answers, and the sudden exhaustion in her voice makes the truth apparent. They both get into Love's bed, and Love carefully tucks Rose's loose hair behind her ear and out of her face once they lay down. 

"Sleep well." Love says softly and flips the light switch. 

Despite the night's events, Rose can't string more than a few thoughts together before she falls asleep to the rain and Love breathing nearby.

Rose wakes up to the disorienting but distantly familiar feeling of too much hair in her face. The light is different in Love's room than Good's, she notices, and most notably, it is no longer raining. Love is still asleep and Rose gets out of bed quietly. She opens Love's closet and looks in the back where she keeps her old clothes. She finds a promising looking light blue dress and takes it with her to go get dressed. 

When she leaves the bathroom she can see Good in the kitchen, eating a snack. She quickly decides to go the other way until she hears Good call out to her. "Er, Rose?" She stops and turns towards him. "Do you want a snack?" He's rubbing his neck again and refuses to make eye contact. Rose wonders if he thinks she's mad at him, if that's why he seems so nervous. 

She crosses the distance to the kitchen and takes the snack he holds out to her. He's already showered and dressed for the day as well, she notices, though his hair is a little damp and sticking up on one side. Even as she stands here across the counter from him he refuses eye contact. 

"So," he says, staring out towards the morning sun, "you stayed in Love's room last night?" 

Rose nods. "Is that okay?" 

Good's eyes widen and he looks down at his feet. "Yes. I mean, it's up to you. You can stay where you want to stay…" 

Rose nods, but slower this time, and stares in Good's direction until he's willing to look back at her. "You're okay about all this?" She asks. "You seem a little nervous." 

"I'm okay." He replies, and smiles shyly as he looks away again. "I understand what happened with Love, I just didn't know it happened to anyone else. I mean, um, you're still the same person the way Love was. I was just, um. It's embarrassing that I treated you like a man without knowing better…"

Something about Good's statement gives Rose pause, and she considers it. _Is_ she the same person as Sean as she is as Rose? Love was always like that, from the beginning. She never had any separation between her identities and ultimately, Rose thinks that's what got her caught. Rose had taken measures to keep everything apart. She couldn't do it perfectly, of course, but the more she thinks about it the more she isn't sure it's truthful to say that Sean and her _are_ the same person. 

Rose leans over the counter to pat Good on the arm and he jumps slightly in response. "It's okay," she says, "you don't need to be embarrassed. And… I'm sorry I didn't tell you the truth in the first place. I don't really… tell anyone. No one at school knows aside from Love." She pulls back her arm and stands up straight. 

Good nods. "I understand. I won't tell anyone."

The sounds of Love stirring can be heard from across the house and Rose gives Good a nod in return and leaves the kitchen. 


	6. You're the only person in the world

Love spends the majority of the morning trying on various outfits and asking Rose’s opinion on them in anticipation of seeing Tangmo that afternoon. The sunlight coming through the house’s windows has changed the mood, and Rose finds herself smiling more than she thought possible, mirroring Love’s own excitement. 

“Hey, Rose,” Love asks between outfit changes, “is it really okay that I go see Tangmo today? Are you sure you’re fine staying here… with Good?” 

Rose nods and sits up a little straighter in her seat on Love’s bed. “I’ll be fine. Good seems… okay? He doesn’t seem angry, at least. We can just ignore each other if it comes to that.” 

Love half shrugs. “If you say so, I’ll trust you. But you can call me if you need to.” 

Rose smiles back at her, knowing that she won’t call, but there’s a comfort in having someone willing to answer the phone. 

Love is meeting You and Me in the early afternoon, prior to meeting Tangmo at the train station, and she leaves the house just after lunch. Rose offers a wave goodbye that Love rejects in favor of a hug that causes Rose to freeze in surprise. Love pulls back smiling. “Don’t forget you can call me.” She says quietly, and then louder to both Rose and Good. “I’ll see you guys later!” Love leaves the house with a bounce in her step. 

While Good busies himself with another book, Rose digs through Love’s closet for something to wear for a walk through the woods. She doesn’t find Good to let him know she’s leaving, but instead leaves a note taped to the front door.  _ “Went for a walk in the woods, I’ll be back for dinner. - Rose” _

The trees around her still drip occasionally with collected moisture from the days of rain, and her shoes sink a couple centimeters into the mud on each step. The forest smells fresh around her, and with the dappled sun shining through, it’s really beautiful. It feels good to move around again, to stretch her legs and get her heart beating. She remembers the weeks she spent wandering these woods, every day a different path, trying to find where the Unicorn might be to get the wish she so desperately wanted. She was so determined back then, so heartbroken and certain that there was something she could do to make Vier love her again. It all feels so foolish now, to look back at it, and what did it get her in the end other than more heartbreak?

She imagines what would have happened had it been Vier on the lakeshore the night before. She imagines him angry, betrayed, but she ultimately doesn’t know what he would do. Would he care enough to feel betrayed at all? She thinks of Good’s reaction instead, which is still confusing her. Why did he apologize so much? She remembers his expression, how he just seemed shocked, how she had looked for an edge of resentment in his eyes and saw none. In all the times she had imagined her secret being revealed, and there had been many, she had never imagined someone being neutral, almost unbothered, by the whole thing. She had also never considered having someone at home waiting to comfort her from the experience. 

Here, alone in the forest like many times before, Rose realizes how truly alone she has been the last couple years. It’s funny, she thinks, that you never really notice something like that until it changes. 

By the time Rose makes it back to the house it’s late afternoon. As she enters she hears the sound of clanging pans and muffled cursing from the direction of the kitchen. Good looks up to see he’s been caught, and looks away sheepishly. 

“I tried to make dinner.” He admits. 

Rose laughs, full throated and loud, and reflexively covers her mouth, having surprised herself in the outburst. “Do you want to go to town for dinner?” She asks. “I don’t think we can make anything edible between the two of us.” 

Good looks between her and the mess in front of him, before leaning forward and turning off the stove. “Let me just clean this up first.” 

They clean up the mess together, scraping the too-burned-to-be-identified food from a few of the pans. Good changes into a nice t-shirt that he tucks into some slacks, and Rose opts for one of Love’s old skirts and a simple button up shirt. They go to one of the only restaurants in the nearby town, a simple Thai place, and Rose is a little surprised Love and Tangmo aren’t there already. There’s a decent chunk of Rose that’s grateful they didn’t end up in the same place she had gone with Vier the school year before. 

They are seated and get menus quickly, and between her own perusal of the food, Rose notices Good keeps glancing her direction over the top of his own menu. She folds hers and sets it on the table, waiting until she can catch him with her eye contact. The waiter arrives before that happens, and they order their food and return the menus. 

“Is there something wrong?” She asks him once the waiter walks away. 

He shakes his head slightly. “Nothing wrong, no.” 

“You kept looking at me.” She continues. “Is there something on my face?” 

He shakes his head again. “No. Your face is… There’s nothing. I was just… thinking about my order.” She watches as he scratches the side of his neck just below his ear in the way that she’s seen him do a few times recently. 

She accepts his answer, and they lapse into a comfortable silence, listening to the sounds of the other patrons and the quiet clatter of dishware and sizzle of food. Their own food arrives in a few minutes and they both dig in. 

“This was a smart plan.” Good admits, after swallowing a few bites of his meal. “I couldn’t have made this.” 

Rose nods as she finishes her own bite. “Mm, yeah. Me either. Why did we let Love leave us alone? We should have had her make dinner before she left.” 

Good laughs at her joke. “I don’t think Love could have made this either.” He counters. “Just because she’s better than us doesn’t make her a good cook.” 

Rose rolls her eyes and smiles. “We’re all doomed.” At that they both laugh together. “What do you eat at university then?”

“A lot of takeout food and instant noodles.” He admits, smiling a little ruefully and adjusting his glasses, and Rose laughs again.

“You should have your mom teach you to cook, it can’t be good for your studies that you never eat a real meal.” Rose says, and then takes a small bite of her own meal.

“That’s smart, but would probably take more than a week, even if she could get the time off work.”

Rose nods. “I should probably learn myself, anyway. If my mother was here she’d tell me how a proper woman knows how to cook for her husband. But then she’d have to face her denial about me not  _ having _ a husband, yet.” 

Good looks confused. “But you’re only in secondary school, she can’t possibly expect you to be married at this age.” 

Rose smiles sadly. “I’m not, actually.” She watches his face carefully for a reaction, but sees nothing yet. “I just turned twenty.” 

His face doesn’t change, but he bows his head slightly. “Oh, I’m sorry for assuming.” 

Rose waves her hand towards him. “Don’t bow at me, don’t worry about it, it’s not like I made it easy to tell.” She takes a bite of her food before continuing talking. “As far as my parents know I’m still in university, but I dropped out only a few months after I started. You’ve already spent more time there than I did.” 

Good nods and swallows his own bite. “Are you going to go back? The admission exams are soon, right?” 

Rose shrugs. “I’m not sure. I’ll have to take the exams if I want to go back, but without a  _ lot _ of explaining, I can’t list any of my accomplishments from the last three years. I can’t even use the name of such a prestigious school to get their attention.” She sighs slightly, and continues. “Even if Principal Venus knew the whole truth, every university knows that Great Men Academy is a boy’s school, with the one very public exception of your sister.”

Good nods again, listening thoughtfully, and finishes the final bite of his meal before pushing his plate away. “You could probably attend as Sean, though, right?” He says, notably keeping his voice down. “I mean, do you have a time limit or something with all that?” 

Rose shakes her head a little as she finishes her own meal. “No time limit that I know of. But I’m not sure… I’m still not really sure why I came back for this year at all.” 

They split the cost of the meal and head outside together. The sky is still clear from the sunny day, but is fully dark now, and the humidity feels like a second skin that wraps around them. They walk, side by side, back towards the forest and Good’s home. 

“Now that we’re not in the restaurant,” Good ventures, “is it okay if I ask more about your transformations? Love told me hers was a wish.” 

Rose feels her own hesitance at the idea, but tightens her fist and releases it again before nodding. There’s no longer any harm in telling him, and besides, he’s been a decent listener so far. “Mine was a wish, too. But it’s a long story.” 

Good glances her direction between steps and Rose wishes she knew what he was seeing. “I’d like to hear it, if you’re okay telling me.” He says. 

She nods, and finds herself smiling slightly, though she’s unsure why. “Okay,” she begins, “the first thing you need to know is that Vier and I dated during his first year at Great Men.” She can see the gears turning in Good’s head, and a moment of recognition where he realizes perhaps he had heard of her back then, surely gossip about Vier was rampant. “I broke up with him. I was stupid, but he was young and I didn’t think he was giving me enough attention.” She knows this part of the story intimately, it’s the part she spent regretting on loop for months. “It broke his heart, and when he won The Greatest Competition that year, he wished to stop loving me.” 

Rose stops the story to steady her breath as they walk, and Good gives her a concerned glance, though she waves him off. “So,” she continues, “I went to find the Unicorn and beg it to make him love me again. That was, of course, the one thing it couldn’t do, so I settled on just being near him.” She doesn’t tell Good the consequences of receiving the wish, she’s not sure why. “And that’s how Sean came to be.” 

Good nods. “I don’t get it.” 

Rose raises an eyebrow. “What do you mean?” 

Good shrugs. “What is it about Vier that made both you and Love so irrational about him?”

Rose considers that for a few seconds as they walk in silence. “I guess it was irrational. But I… was… in love with him. Your sister had a crush, I think it was different.” 

“I think there’s always something irrational about romance.” Good replies, “None of it ever makes sense, logically.” Rose looks at him again and finds him looking straight ahead as they walk. She wonders if he knows how much it sounds like he’s talking to himself. 

They continue walking until they can see the house dimly glowing in the distance through the trees. “Are you still…” Good begins, but then stops. 

“Still what?” Rose asks.

Good takes a deep breath. “Still in love with Vier?” 

It’s hard for Rose to remember a time when loving Vier wasn’t a constant state of her being, but the more she thinks about it, the more she realizes she hasn’t been thinking of him nearly as often this week. Maybe the distance has been helping more than she thought. “I’m trying not to be.” She says, deciding that is the best answer she can give. “It’s easier to forget him here.” 

“Here?” Good asks as they reach the front door. He unlocks it and holds the door for her. 

“Your house,” Rose says, and looks around the room as they enter, “with you… and Love. I can’t really think of him here at all.” 

Good shuts the door. “I’m glad--” Rose turns back to look at him. “I mean, you seem happier. I’m glad if you’re happy here. I’m… glad Love invited you.” 

An unbidden warmth rises in Rose’s chest at his words, and she finds herself having to turn away. The living room is empty, apparently Love has yet to return from her date with Tangmo, and Rose takes a seat on the sofa. “We should probably wait for Love to get home, should one of us text her?” 

Good nods and sits next to her, pulling out his phone, he sends Love a text and sets his phone on the coffee table in front of them. 

“She might want to spend the night with him.” Rose says wistfully, and then immediately laughs at Good’s scandalized expression. 

“Do you really think they’re at that point?” He asks. 

Rose smiles and shakes her head a little. “No, I was just teasing you. I’m sure she’ll come home safe… with only a few kiss marks that she’ll be very bad at hiding.” Good looks shocked once again and Rose has to laugh. “You’re so easy to tease. You don’t have to worry about her. Didn’t you ever get up to anything when you were her age?” 

At this Good blushes and looks away from her. “I never had a girlfriend until Me. But, I mean…” He’s seemingly too embarrassed to continue, but Rose is still smiling. 

“See?” She says. “You can just tell her not to do anything that you wouldn’t do.” 

“But,” Good says quickly, “she doesn’t know…” 

Rose looks him in the eye and raises an eyebrow. “Me is one of her best friends. She knows.” 

Good groans and hides his face in his hands, leaning until his elbows are on his knees. “Oh god, you’re right.” 

Rose scoots closer to him to pat him on the shoulder half sarcastically. “There, there.” She says. “Your baby sister has a boyfriend, you’re just going to have to accept all this.” 

Good groans into his hands again and Rose laughs. Without warning, Good puts his hands flat on his lap and sits up straight, putting himself eye to eye with Rose’s closer position. Their faces are only centimeters apart, and while Rose was laughing, she finds herself a bit short of breath in the moment. She’s too close to look him in the eyes, but she clearly sees the way he begins to worry at his lip with his teeth, and how flushed his cheeks are. There’s something about him from this close up that she’d never noticed before, and she finds herself acting without much thought. Her hand is still on his shoulder, but she raises her free hand and gently pulls his glasses from his face, folding them deftly and tucking them in the chest pocket of his shirt. She watches as Good’s mouth drops half open in protest of her action, but he doesn’t speak. She adjusts her face until they are just far enough apart that they can make eye contact. 

“I’m going to kiss you.” She says quietly, and Good nods, almost imperceptibly, but holds eye contact. 

She kisses him. It’s soft, with closed lips, and she only holds for a few seconds. Her hand travels from his shoulder to the side of his neck, and her thumb rubs absently at that same spot he always scratches when he’s nervous. She keeps her hand in place when she pulls back. 

“Rose…” Good says, just a whisper of a breath. 

“Yes?” She replies. 

“Can we…?”

Rose nods quickly. “Yes.” And she kisses him again. This time it is different, and their shared frantic energy finds Rose breathing fast. Rose pulls herself closer as the kiss deepens, running one hand along his ribs and around his side while the other stays firmly planted on his neck. Good is holding her now, as well, with one hand sliding through the hair on the back of her head and the other firmly gripping her shoulder. She’s not sure how long they’re at it, but she’s kissing a line along the side of Good’s neck when his phone dings with a text message, startling them apart. 

Rose throws herself flat against the back cushion of the couch, taking a few deep breaths as Good leans forward to check his phone. “Love says ‘be home soon’.” He announces, and sets his phone back down. 

Rose smiles and sighs, looking over at him and wanting, more than she can explain, to kiss him again. She can only imagine the expression on Good’s face is a mirror of her own. 

“I’m going to, I’m…” he starts, “do you want to fix your hair?” 

Rose laughs breathlessly at the thought. “Oh, what did you do?” She says, and pats it a bit before standing up. “I’ll go fix it.” She can’t stop smiling all the way to the bathroom. In the mirror she confirms that her hair is rather messy, but she also sees a redder tinge to her lips, her cheeks are bright, and no matter how hard she tries she can’t knock the smile off her face. She smooths her hair until it’s acceptable and turns to go. “Wow, Good,” she calls the second she opens the bathroom door, “you really made a mess of me!” 

She turns the corner from the hallway and sees Love and Good standing near the front door, and freezes. Good is as flushed as she’s ever seen him, a tomato from hairline to chest. Love, on the other hand, is looking back and forth between the two of them with a huge smile on her face. “I  _ knew it _ !” She crows. 

Rose rolls her eyes and crosses the room towards them, still smiling. “What did you know?” She asks. 

Good has not moved or said anything, and Rose is half worried that he’s broken in some way. 

Love answers. “Ever since Good found out you’re a pretty girl he can’t take his eyes off you. I’m a little surprised at  _ you _ , though Rose. How did my brother seduce you?” 

Rose laughs, and in that moment Good attempts to make his escape, walking quickly towards his bedroom. Rose and Love each catch him by an elbow and turn him bodily around to face them again. “Don’t worry, Love.” Rose answers, keeping a firm grip on Good’s elbow. “Your brother is a gentleman.” Good nods at this assertion. Rose leans towards Love and mock-whispers to her. “It was me that seduced him.” 

Good makes his second escape attempt, but Rose has a firm grip and he gives up. Love laughs. 

Love keeps laughing throughout most of the rest of the night, as Rose and Love debrief their evenings side by side in her bed. Rose hears all about Love’s mini-golf date with Tangmo, how good it was to see him again, how he kissed her goodnight. Her own distraction hardly can keep her from her curiosity at Rose’s night, though, and eventually, after what feels like hours of talking, Love asks Rose a question. 

“Do you like Good, then?” 

Rose sighs a little, but not unhappily. “I don’t know… he’s sweet, and he’s a good listener, and he’s smart. Plus he’s really easy to make embarrassed and he blushes so much.” 

Love quietly laughs. “So you definitely like him then.” 

Rose looks over at Love with only her eyes and looks away. “I  _ probably _ like him. Yeah.” 

**Author's Note:**

> > And if you move off to the side  
> I'll get swept back out  
> Where it's cold but not that deep
> 
> _**Nada Surf** \- Your Legs Grow_
> 
> Thanks to anyone who makes it to the end of this incredibly long fic about a ship which shouldn't make any sense but here it is.


End file.
